Therapeutic tablet



Patented Mar. 20, 1945 as'zrsez 'rnnaarsnric TABLET Irving Wershaw, NewYork, N. Y., assignor to Dome? Chemicals Incorporated, New York,

hrs-baths. nppueaflon April 2, 1942, w

" Serial No. 437,409

4 Claims. (Cl. 167-58) My present invention"'relates to a newpreparation ,inltablet form adapted to be used for making a solution forwetifdressings, compresses, wet packs, and immersiongoaths.

It is the main object of the present invention to provide for a new,therapeutically active, solid, and stable preparation in tablet formwhich contains all ingredients needed for producing a solution for wetdressings.

Another object of my present invention consists of producing tablets ofthe above type which are stable and thus storable for a practicallyunlimited time as long as they are kept dry and which neverthelessdissolve easily and quickly in water.

Still another object of my present invention consists of selecting theingredients of these tablets in such a manner that the same can beeasily compressed and hold firmly together after compressing.

With the above objects in view, my new preparation consists of acompressed mixture of dry acetate powder, aluminum sulphate and one ormore binding agents bonding-the particles of said acetate powder andsaid aluminum sulphate together; the acetate used has to be adapted toform aluminum subacetate when mixed with aluminum sulphate and water. Itis furthermore indispensable from the point of viewof the presentinvention that the aluminum sulphate used for these tablets be in astate substantially preventing reaction between this aluminum sulphateand the dry acetate powdercontained in the tablets.

I have found that for the new preparation manydifferent acetates maybeused, such as the acetates of magnesium, cadmium, barium, strontium, andother similar metals; I prefer, however, to use calcium acetate as withthis acetate I have obtained the best results.

The above mentioned eifect, namely that the aluminum sulphate should bein a state substantially preventing reaction of this sulphate with theacetate present in the tablets, can be obtained in the most differentways.

Thus, for instance, I may coat the aluminum sulphate particles andthereby avoid reaction between them and the acetate present in thetablets. However, such a coating may retard the time of reaction duringdissolution of the tablet in water, and is therefore not the best andsimplest way of attaining the above described efiect.

Another proposal to obtain the desired effect is based on theobservation that the aflinity of the aluminum sulphate and the acetateis the greatest when they are used in powdered form, irrespectively ofthe fact whether this powder is added to the tablets in granulated or inungranulated state. It should be stressed that the term granulated asused above and in the following description and claims indicates thatthe granulated substance has originally been in powder form, has thenbeen mixed with a binding material and water, and thereafter dried.Thus, each particle of such a granulated substance consists of a numberof particles of this substance itself and binding material holding theseparticles together. If two substances, each of which is in granulatedform, are mixed and compressed, this compressed mixture finally consistsof nothing more than the powdered particles of these substances heldtogether by a bind- The contacting surfaces of these powdered particlesare therefore relatively large in comparison with the amount of thesubstances contained in the compressed mixture; this results in a verygreat afiinity of these substances.

It have found that by using crystalline aluminum sulphate the singlecrystals of which have a substantially larger size than that of thesingle acetate powder particles, I obtained very good results, i. e.,the afiim'ty of crystalline aluminum sulphate of the above type andgranulated acetate powder proved to be substantially less than theaffinity between these same substances when they ar both in powdered orgranulated state. This makes possible combination of all neededingredients in one single tablet without any danger of reaction as longas this tablet is kept dry. It should be stressed that the termcrystalline as used above and in the following description and claimsdefines not a granulated substance consisting of single particlescomposed each of powder particles of this substance and a binder, but amass composed of uncrushed not powdered particles, namely, crystals ofthis substance. The size of such crystals is in most cases-also if notseparately indicatedlarger than the size of particles of a powder madeofthis substance.

The acetate used for the new preparation is in granulated state, i. e.,an acetate powder is used which is thoroughly mixed with a bindingmaterial and water; thereby the mixture of acetate and binder isgranulated; thereafter, the granulated acetate is thoroughly dried. Thepreferably crystalline aluminum sulphate granules are thoroughly mixedwith another binder in dry state, preferably a water soluble starch orthe like; the admixture of such a binder is advantageous as it bonds theparticles in dry state very well to each other and easily dissolves whenthe tablet containing it is placed in water. Thus,

such a binder accelerates decomposition of the tablet in water and doesnot retard the reaction between the aluminum sulphate and acetatecontainedinit.

Thus, the finished tablet consists of two mixtures, namely of agranulated acetate consisting of acetate powder thoroughly mixed with abinding agent, as gelatin, acacia, or the like, and of an intimatemixture of aluminum sulphate and a binder which is easily soluble inwater, for instance a water soluble starch or the like. These twomixtures, in turn, are thoroughly mixed before being compressed intotablets.

In order to avoid sticking of the mixed ingredients to the punches ofthe tablet making machine during compressing, boric acid powder is addedas so-called lubricant. It is evident that also other substances adaptedto serve as lubricants may be used instead of this boric acid.

A preparation which proved to be very satisfactory therapeuticallycontains 30% to 40% of powdered calcium acetate, 0.6% to 1.2% ofpowdered acacia, 40% to 60% of aluminum sulphate in crystalline granularstate, 8% to of a water soluble starch. and a small percentage,preferably not more than 3%, of powdered boric acid; all theseingredients are in completely dry state and after thorough mixing arecompressed into tablets which are solid and stable, i. e., may be storedwithout any danger of decomposition for a practically unlimited time.

Tablets of the type claimed by me can, for instance, be produced in thefollowing way:

First, about 50.6 parts of dry granular aluminum sulphate ,incrystalline state are intimately mixed with about 12.4 parts of drysoluble starch and about 1.5 parts of powdered boric acid. The granulesof the aluminum sulphate are of such a size that they may be put througha No. 16 sieve; the starch and boric acid are in powder form and are putthrough a No. 20 sieve before being added to the crystalline aluminumsulphate; the sulphate, starch, and boric acid are then thoroughlymixed.

Then, separately from the above mixture, about 34.5 parts of calciumacetate are finely granulated with about one part of acacia andthereafter dried. Both the calcium acetate and the Each of these tabletscontains about 50.6% of granular aluminum sulphate in crystalline stateintimately mixed with about 12.4% of a soluble starch and about l.5% ofpowdered boric acid,

and about 34.5% of powdered calcium acetate This basic aluminum acetatesolution is then used as a wet dressing in all cases where such adressing is advisable.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more of them together, may also find a useful application in otherpreparations differing from those described above.

While I have illustrated and described the invention as embodied inpreparations for making wet dressings, I do not intend to be limited tothe details shown, since various modifications and structural changesmay be made without departing in any way from the spirit of myinvention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofmy invention that others can by applying current knowledge readily adaptit for various applications without omitting features that, from thestandpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essential characteristics ofthe generic 49 or specific aspects of this invention and, therefore,

acacia are in powder form and are put through a number 20 sieve beforegranulation.

thorough and even drying.

Thereafter these two mixtures, namely, the sulphate, starch and boricacid mixture on the one hand and the granulated calcium acetateacaciamixture on the other hand, are thoroughly mixed. The thus prepared finalmixture represents the finished mass for the new preparation.

This granulation is carried out in a Well-known way,'

This finished mass is then compressed into tablets in well-known way,for instance by means of a so-called Stokes tablet machine. The tabletproduced in this manneris solid and stable when stored in a dry coolplace and its ingredients will not react with each other without beingdissolved in water.

such adaptations should and are intended to be comprehended within themeaning and range of equivalence of the following claims.

What I claim as 'new'and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

i. A therapeutically active solid and stable preparation in tablet form,consisting of a compressed mixture containing a dry water-solublemetallic acetate powder adapted to form aluminum subacetate when mixedwith aluminum sulphate and water, dry crystalline aluminum sulphate innot-powdered form the single crystals of which have a substantiallylarger size than that of the single particles of said metallic acetatepowder, and at least one binding agent bonding the particles of saidmetallic acetate powder and the crystals of said aluminum sulphatetogether.

2. A therapeutically active solid and stable preparation in tablet form,comprising a compressed mixture containing dry powdered calcium acetate,dry crystalline not-powdered aluminum sulphate, the single crystals ofwhich have a substantially larger size than that of the single particlesof said acetate powder, and at least one binding agent bonding theparticles of said powdered calcium acetate and said dry crystallinealuminum sulphate together.

3. A therapeutically active solid and stable preparation in tablet form,comprising a compressed mixture containing a dry water-solublegranulated metallic acetate powder adapted toreact with aluminumsulphate and to form aluminum subacetate when mixed with aluminumsulphate and water, dry crystalline aluminum sulphate in not-powderedstate the single crystals of which have a substantially larger size thanthat or the single metallic acetate particles 01' said granulatedmetallic acetate powder and at least one binding agent bonding said drycrystalline aluminum sulphate and said granulated metallic acetatepowder-together.

4. A therapeutically active solid and stable preparation in tableti'orm, comprising a compressed mixture containing dry granulated calciumacetate powder, crystalline aluminum sulphate in not-powdered statethe'gingle crystals of which have a substantially larger size than thatof the single calcium acetate particles of said granulated calciumacetate powder, and a binding agent bonding said crystalline aluminumsulphate and said granulated calcium acetate powder toether.

IRVING B. WERSHAW.

